French painter fronts magistrate over new electronics theft (5)
I believe the answer is:
monet
'french painter' is the definition.
(I know that Monet is a painter)
'fronts magistrate over new electronics theft' is the wordplay.
'fronts' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'front of' mean this).
The first letters of 'magistrate over new electronics theft' is 'MONET'.
(Other definitions for monet that I've seen before include "Met no impressionist painter" , "he painted Rouen Cathedral" , "French landscape painter" , "French Impressionist with famous garden" , "Claude --, French impressionist painter" .)